In the Land of the Jockstraps
by Biel N. Mouresat
Summary: AU. Terrible at summaries, but...please read?
1. Stuck on you

**Decided to re-post this story.  
I don't own South of Nowhere or any of it's original characters. I'm just a fan and this is just a fanfic.  
Hopefully you guys enjoy :)**

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**Chapter I  
Stuck on you.**

A freshly turned seven-teen year old Spencer Carlin hung up-side down from a set of red monkey bars in an abandoned park. Hair dangling below her in a sea of gold, the moonlight bouncing off her face giving her a mystical almost fairy-like complexion. Two other bodies dropped to either side of her, legs securely wrapped around the bars keeping them up.

"Problems with the 'rents again?"

The girl to her right asked while handing her an unopened bottle filled with "Sierra Mist". Dani Sloan: her _provider_, right-wing man (or woman in this case), and--most importantly--her best friend, accomplice, confidante, etc.

"No. Why would you say that?"

Spencer used her free hand to grab onto the oxidized tube above her and sloppily hauled herself up into a sitting position. She tried to believe her own lie as she unscrewed the cap and took a swig of the honey brown liquid residing in the green plastic bottle.

"Well, it is your birthday, you know the day of your birth, and you're sitting in an abandoned park where you'd probably need a tetanus shot if you cut yourself on anything, sipping on your fourth bottle of whiskey with this one and I, rather than celebrating with your _family_. Emphasis on _family_."

Spencer eyed her with tired eyes and a confused expression, bottled mid-way to her lips. Dani, staring off into space, inhaled exaggeratedly loud as she prepared to ramble on.

"Either that or you slaughtered them and you called us up 'cause you needed an alibi for when the bodies are found."

"So, do you like ever make sense?"

Buffy, the girl to Spencer's left, realized her companions for the night were no longer hanging and pulled herself up to a sitting position as well. Buffy Lynch: the Kelso to their little group of friends. Enough said. Spencer simply shook her head slowly and took another lengthy swig of her drink. Dani's jaw dropped as if she were trying to catch moths, turning her head in a way that would have made Linda Blair proud, and look at Buffy with an annoyed expression.

"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be _sucking_ the life out of something at this hour of the night?"

Buffy smirked at Dani. "Well, I would be but you're sister's down in Californ-i-a for the weekend."

No sooner was this said that Dani had launched herself over Spencer's lap knocking the bottle--as well as the three of them--down to the ground. The sober Spencer would have cried out in pain but the intoxicated one simply looked around with sleepy eyes wondering where her bottle had gone to.

"What's all this about?"

A silky voice accompanied by it's owner cut through the night and made Dani and Buffy freeze mid-fight. Recognizing that voice immediately, Dani released her grip on the other girl's collar and shoved her aside as she began to smooth out her shirt. Wrapping her arms around Sasha Gerret's slim figure, she couldn't help the cheesy smile that took over her features.

"Hey boo."

"What are you guys doing out here? And what the hell is wrong with Spencer?"

Dani, tearing her eyes away from the meaning of her life, looked around to see a frustrated Buffy attempting to get Spencer to stop trying to lick the whiskey covered pebbles under the monkey bars.

"Spencey here is having some family problems and, uh, well it's her seventeenth and all so we decided to get her a tinsy, tiny bit...plastered."

She coughed out the last word.

"Daniela."

Sasha warned knowing full well that Spencer would be in the crapper if her parents found out she was drinking.

"Calm down. I'll buy her some coffee on the way home. And stop calling me Daniela."

Dani unwillingly released her grip on Sasha's hips and sauntered over to the other two girls. Her eyes widened the slightest when she realized coffee wouldn't do the job this time.

"Actually, do you think we could just go to your house and put her in the shower or something?"

"Yeah, sure. My parents aren't home anyway and I could use the company."

With that said, Dani grabbed for Sasha's hand while Buffy was left to fireman-carry Spencer across the street and into a cozy three room town-house. The thought that this might be one of the last times they would all be together never crossing one of their minds...

---------------

_"It's funny how you can spend your whole life waiting for that single moment. You know, that one single moment that puts your entire world on hold, all the noises around you on mute, and that, you know, somehow manages to put every other memory in your life to shame."_

Dani's words describing how she felt when she first kissed Sasha were the only things resonation in Spencer's mind as she realized that for her that moment was right now. In this very instant standing mere inches from the gorgeous blonde goddess in front of her. Carly Owens. Spencer could feel the other girl's heat radiating off her body and onto hers as she began to shrink the already small gap separating them.

All she could do was stand staring at Carly; her mind in overdrive and her heart beating way too fast for it to be considered healthy. Centimeters away from having her life long fantasy of knowing what the goddess' lips tasted like come true, Carly pulled back in record speed and a voice seemingly light years away pulled Spencer from her thoughts.

"Um, did you want something?"

It was Carly. Spencer had to blink several times to fully realize what was going on. She quickly came to the conclusion that Carly leaning in to fulfill her fantasy happened to be just that, another damn fantasy.

"Oh. Uh, yeah." Spencer shook her head hoping it would help her regain at least an ounce of the thoughts she'd lost during her minor slip on reality. "Um, I wanted t-to say goodbye. Y-you see, um, my family's moving to Minnesota so...yeah…"

Carly nodded her head slowly eyeing Spencer with a confused look in her eyes.

"Oh. Uh...okay."

She looked over her shoulder and up at the un-rung bell almost as if hinting that she wanted it to ring any second now, rescuing her from the awkward conversation. She turned her beautiful green eyes back to Spencer.

"Well, um, bye Spencer, good luck in Mississauga--er wherever."

And with that, Carly Owens turned to walk away from Spencer and down the hallway. And with each one of Carly's steps in the other direction, Spencer's heart broke a little.

_Good luck. That's it?_

Although Spencer knew that she'd been more of an unwanted acquaintance to Carly than anything else, part of her had actually expected a warmer goodbye from her. Or a goodbye at all.

Her hopes had been raised to their limits when she witnessed the enormous bear hug she'd presented Glen with when he informed her of his family's departure from town. Sure, Spencer overlooked the fact that Carly and Glen were good friends, but she hoped that Carly had kept in mind after all these years that it was Spencer she used to play house with every day after school.

That it was Spencer she used to lay on he grass with at night pointing out the different shapes the stars would paint on the night sky. That it was Spencer she first confessed to back in the fifth grade about liking girls. That it was _Spencer_, her best bud as she had called her growing up, that she shunned from her life once they reached eighth grade and joined the cheerleading team.

It was Spencer who got no goodbye from the girl she'd fallen in love with growing up. Spencer let her eyes fall down to ground as she leaned back against her locker.

"Wow…" a low whistle was let out. "If _that_ wasn't a crash and burn, then I don't what is."

Had this been a different situation Spencer would have laughed at Dani's comment. A little irritated and more than crushed, she snapped.

"Why don't you grow the hell up and shut it for once?"

She kicked herself off the lockers and turned to push past Dani on her way to class.

"Hey, hey. Come on Spence I was kidding."

Dani placed her small hand around Spencer's wrist and spun her around to face her.

"Look, don't feel bad okay? That girl has her head so far up her ass that she honestly doesn't pay much attention to people other than her bitch friends, the nerds she pays to do her homework for her, or the people she screws."

"Shut the hell up!"

Completely losing all self control she wound up shoving Dani against the vomit green lockers behind her. Her eyes widened as she realized what she'd done.

"Dani--"

"What the hell is your damage Spencer?"

Dani cut her off shoving her back with just as much strength.

"She acts like you don't exist and like--like you were never even her friend. Her best friend. And you still kiss every piece of ground she walks on!"

Spencer, who had stumbled backwards, stared at Dani with shame etched on her face. She was becoming incredibly aware of her friend's dangerously low tone.

"I mean, of all the girls you could crush on, you have to go and choose the one that hurt you the most. Why not the one that cares about you the most? What the hell is your problem...huh?"

Apart from all the different emotions she was experiencing she now had guilt on her conscience. She knew the argument had taken an unwanted turn. Her more-than-just-a-crush for Carly had blinded her so much that at the beginning of her sophomore year Spencer resulted in using a girl--who had openly admitted to being very taken with her--and attempted to make Carly jealous. Jealous of what exactly was unknown. Carly never showed any signs of having feelings towards Spencer.

Spencer figured that if she were to get a girlfriend, Carly's memory would be joggled a bit and all the sweet memories of them together when they were younger would come back to haunt her causing her to confess her undying love for her.

But how could you make someone admit to feelings that were never probably there to begin with?

She risked a lot of things by messing with that girl to try to get to Carly. The main one being Dani's friendship.

In fact, that poor girl happened to bear the exact same hazel eyes and sandy brown hair as the one before her. In all her "love" for Carly, Spencer's mind happened to forget the small fact that that girl happened to be Dani's little sister. Stacy.

It was only suppose to be a fake relationship. That was the plan. A plan that would have worked much better had she informed Stacy and Dani of that little fact. But Spencer took it way too far with her for it to be considered just that. Not all the way mind you, but enough to be looked upon as cruel.

She had placed Stacy's heart in the highest cloud she could find, a cloud with no base which resulted in Stacy's heart plummeting to a shattering halt thousands of feet below.

"Dani, look...I'm--I'm sorry about everything. Specially everything with Stacy, but I--"

"Ugh God! No, Spencer. This has nothing to do with Stacy. It has to do with you and how effing naive you are."

Dani paused glancing down the hallway real quick to check for security guards.

"I get that you 'love' Carly. I get that you want to believe that she has hidden feelings for you. Okay? I get that. But, what I don't get, is how you can think that girl's worth your time. She doesn't deserve you."

A bitter laugh slipped through Spencer's lips.

"You're just saying that to make me feel better for making an ass out of myself over her."

"Well...yeah." Dani chuckled softly along with Spencer. "No, but on the s-note. She-She really doesn't deserve you."

She decided to close the gap between her and her friend, slinging an arm around Spencer's shoulder.

"Come on Hutch. Waddaya say we blow this joint and head over to gym class? Duval's gonna be pissed if we're even later than last time."

Slinging her own arm around Dani's, Spencer added, "I'm right there witcha Starsky."

Spencer and Dani began to make their way down the hall and towards the gym to which they were as always unbelievably late. Turning at the corner to their left leading them away from their lockers, Dani decided to fill Spencer in on a little tid-bit.

"Mr. Duval had a fry stuck in his toupee at lunch."

"Yeah? You saw It?"

"Well…yeah, of course. After I put it there."

"Think we'll be able to see it?"

"Hopefully. I'll point it out to ya when I see it."

Remembering something, Dani cut her details about how she'd planted the French-fry in the wig short.

"Oh, yeah. Did Mama C. notice you were shit-faced on Friday or what?"

"No. But they did ask me why I was soaking wet." Dani had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. "Why was I wet?"

"Um, well you kinda jumped in that pond right next to the park. Yeahhh. Buffy and I had a fun time fishing you outta there."

Dani smiled to herself as she saw Spencer eating up every bit of that lie. She still cracked up every now and then when she remembered Spencer's face and hysterical screaming as they hauled her into the bathtub and soaked her with freezing water. It might not have been necessary to do but it sure was funny as hell.


	2. Simon says no

**Chapter II  
Simon Says No.**

Not wanting to join in with everyone else's jubilant celebration, Dani sat on the floor with her back against a row of lockers; iPod's volume blasted to it's max.

Seeing her sitting there with an expensive music appliance and all of her designer clothes, you'd be more than surprised to learn that she came from a family who didn't even know where their next meal was coming from.

To be honest, everything she wore at the moment--from her white Dior shades right down to her favorite black Eight Miles High hoodie--had either been given to her by Spencer or was a result of countless FFDs: Five Finger Discounts in the local mall.

You couldn't easily guess that her family life wasn't exactly the best. You also couldn't guess the reasons as to why she would sit in the school's halls every day she found herself with nothing to do. She would only leave when the janitor told her she had to.

Normally, Dani would have one of two options after school. The first one being that her and Spencer would hop aboard her beat up 1981 Chevy and drive around town raiding fast food restaurants. The other option, by far, had to be her favorite pass time. She would cruise in her Chevy over to her girlfriend's house to finish off some _errands_ that would usually begin in the school bathroom during lunch time.

A smile played on her lips as she thought of the old paint peeled car she fought her dad long and strong to keep from taking it to a junk yard. The car wasn't old, it was ancient but she wouldn't trade it for the world. Hell she'd probably even ask to be buried with it. One, it belonged to her mom before she died. Two, that's the car she got _lucky_ in for the first time.

Breaking away from her thoughts, she chanced a glance upward and saw Stacy and her _thing_ standing over her saying something. Dani removed her earplugs, stuffing them into her pocket as she stood to greet them.

"Hey Stace," she turned to look at the girl holding her baby sister's hand making a face as if she were smelling something rotten. "Creature."

"Buffy. My name is Buffy." Dani wondered why anyone would admit to that, and with such pride too. "Oh wait, I forgot. You're Sasha's bitch. You're only allowed to remember the things she tells you to, right?"

"Ahuh, funny. What'd you do threatened Chevy Chase with STDs in return for that joke?"

"Listen bitch--"

Stacy quickly moved to stand between the two girls when she saw Dani begin to advance on Buffy, mind set to slay. No pun.

"Guys! Come on, no. Play nice, okay?"

Being one of the four people Dani could actually tolerate in her life, she immediately softened up and, swallowing her pride, mumbled a soft apology in Buffy's direction.

"Just please don't say my name in the same sentence as hers again. I might catch something."

Rolling her eyes and fighting down a smile, Stacy got back to business.

"Anyway, um Buffy and I wanted to know if you'd like to grab a burger with us. You know, with Spencer leaving today and Sasha at that student council meeting..."

"Thanks for the offer but uh...I'll pass."

"'Kay, well I'll see you at home then." Remembering Dani's habit of going AWOL at times she added to that. "I mean, you _are_ coming home right?"

"Yeah, Stace. Don't worry I'll be there."

"'Kay then. Bye." She threw her arms around Dani giving her a little peck on the check before turning to leave.

Dani stood for little while in the middle of the hollowed out hallway watching as Stacy and Buffy made their way down the stairs. Probably out to the parking lot. She picked her back-pack off the floor and slung it over one shoulder turning to walk in the other direction.

Caught up in her thoughts, Dani failed to hear a pair of feet pitter pattering towards her as she reached an intersection in the halls. With out warning, Dani was rammed into by someone else knocking her--along with the offender--down onto the dusty floor. A little confused and beyond pissed at the moment, Dani got back on her feet and looked down to see none other than Carly Owens sprawled out on the floor.

"Listen Owens, just 'cause you pretend people don't exist doesn't mean you're able to run right through 'em."

She rubbed her side up and down and opened her mouth once more.

"Anyway, what the hell are you a bull? Who runs around with their head down? I just might sue."

"God knows Daniela Sloan just has to put her two cents into absolutely everything. But I'm not in the mood for your crap right now."

"Right now? When since the 7th grade have you had time for my crap? And do _not_ call me Daniela."

"Look shut up. Where's Spencer?"

At the mention of Spencer's name Dani had to bite back another smarmy remark and looked closer at Carly, now standing face to face with her. Narrowing her eyes she asked in a wary tone,

"What do you want with Spencer?"

Carly raised her hand and handed the other girl what seemed to be a letter with Carly's name scribbled on the outside. Dani's eyes widened a slight bit.

"Wow."

She had three guesses on who the letter belonged to. Scanning down to the person's signature, Dani let out a howl handing the letter back to Carly.

"Spencer, you idiot."

"Did you know about this?" Carly asked waving the letter around.

"Are you kidding me? Anyone with at least one eye and half a brain knew about that. I'm just surprised she had the _cojones_ to finally give it to you."

"Fi-what do you mean finally?"

Dani ignored her questioned and continued talking. "No. Yeah, I remember she wrote that letter back in eighth grade. Said she was gonna give it to you on your birthday..."

Dani trailed off, the amused smile falling from her face as she remembered why Spencer had decided, through tears, to not give the now infamous love letter to Carly. Carly raised her eyebrows at Dani hoping she'd fill her in on what she was thinking. Or at least have the decency to finish her sentence.

However, Dani didn't have to say a thing as a memory, identical to the one that was replaying in Dani's mind, came rushing back to her.

A year before the tragedy better known as high school hit planet Carly, everything had pretty much revolved around her friendships with Spencer and Dani. They were the three musketeers. At least they were until Carly joined the cheerleading team and began to avoid them.

It was messed up yes, but Carly, I guess you could say, just wanted to fit in. Her new _"like BFF Selly"_ told her that in order to be truly considered one of _them_, all she had to do was ditch Dani and Spencer. What better time to start then on the day of her birthday?

Being the idiot that she still is, Carly crossed out the first two names from her invitation list. She remembered standing a few feet from the entrance to the ice rink when she spotted Spencer and Dani getting stopped by her father. Earlier on that week Carly had told her dad that she didn't want to be friends with either girls any longer. When asked why she fed him a half ass made up story that they had both started hanging out with the wrong crowd and were now involved in drugs.

She remembered seeing Spencer with tears in her eyes while Dani, who had been able to spot Carly, was giving her a surly smirk. She also remembered how for a fleeting moment she lost all her resolve and was about to run up to her dad and tell him they were both allowed to come in. That she'd made up that story about them. She didn't.

Before they walked away she caught Dani's gaze. She shook her head at her, anger flashing through her wide eyes. That was the day she lost the two most important people in the world. Unbeknownst to them, even to this day they still were. That birthday party sucked more than Paris Hilton had in a life time.

"Look, about that--"

"Stop. Just…stop."

Dani got up close to Carly's face. She could probably count every single one of her eyelashes if she wanted to.

"If I didn't need an apology back then what the hell makes you think I need one now?"

"I..."

All she did was look down and shake her head.

"I don't know. But--look as much we're _not_ enjoying this trip down memory lane, could you please just tell me where Spencer is?"

"Why do you want to know so bad?"

Carly simply opened her mouth as if to say something but thought better of it and snapped it shut. She gave Dani a pleading look and then glanced nervously at Spencer's letter.

Dani unfurrowed her eyebrows and dropped her mouth as she finally understood Carly's haste to find out where Spencer was. After what seemed like several dragged out minutes passed by, Dani closed her mouth. A smirk now forming at the corners of her mouth.

"Ah," Dani tapped her chin with her pointer while beginning to walk circles around the cheerleader. "So you did have feelings for her after all. Hmph. Funny."

"Dani." Carly warned.

She stopped circling the blond and after looking her up and down, she let out an exasperated sigh.

"She's probably home right now packing her stuff."

She paused to check her Scooby-Doo wrist watch.

"Actually, she's most likely on the road right now."

"Could you call her for me? I don't have her number. Just please, please tell her to call me--"

Dani gave Carly an incredulous look at her request. "Ha! I'm not telling her shit. She's moving away and you know what? Hopefully she'll move on too."

"Give me her phone number. Please. Dani. I just want to talk to her." She looked around before saying in a broken whisper, "I _need_ to talk to her." Carly looked as though she were on the verge of tears.

Dani reached up to her face and removed her shades to get a better look into Carly's eyes. It was scary how she could see the girl's heart breaking right through them. It was also scary how Dani didn't give a damn. She leaned in close enough so that her lips grazed Carly's earlobe.

"No." Dani barely whispered her answer into the pleading girl's ear. She watched with no remorse as Carly dropped her eyes to ground hanging her head.

Shaking her head, Dani looked at the so called goddess that had done nothing more than break Spencer's heart. Her best friend's heart. As well as her own. Putting her shades back on she began to walk backwards, head still shaking.

"You know, if you hadn't been Selly's fucking puppet you'd have more than likely made Spencer yours." Dani noticed a tear threatening to spill. "And they call you a goddess. Hmm. _Pathetic_." The word drenched in venom.

With that said, Dani turned on her heel and began to walk towards the stairs. It was Carly's turn to stand in the same spot where they left her looking after someone's retreating back. For the first time since, well since ever, Carly Owens had no clue what to do next.

Even after the whole eighth-grade-birthday-party-fiasco, she still secretly considered Spencer Carlin and Dani Sloan her two best buds. Sadly, it was just now that she realized she was mistaken. She'd lost Spencer; the girl she'd secretly harbored feelings for since she could remember. And she'd also lost Dani; the one girl she could have counted on since they were little to be her support beam.

Tears now freely running down her face, Carly reached into her back pocket and pulled out a black leather wallet. She opened it with shaking fingers and watched as an old wrinkled picture fell from it, hitting the tiled floor face down. She crouched down and couldn't stop the rest of the tears that poured out as she flipped the picture over.

Looking up at her from the kodak were three ten year old girls. Dani, trademark smirk on her face, was standing up hunched over holding a giggling Spencer piggy back style. On top of Spencer was Carly, smiling down at the girls below her. It was crazy how one mistake could erase a million happy moments like the one that took place in the yellowing photograph. Just like that it was gone. Just like that, in due time, one of the smiling girls in the picture _would_ be gone. Just like that...


	3. Home, dreaded home

**Chapter III  
Home, Dreaded Home.**

"Ow."

Being woken up by having her forehead smashed against a car window wasn't Spencer's ideal way to start the day. She slowly pulled back from the fog filled window, blinked a few times to adjust to the sun light, and looked at the unfamiliar scenery before her.

She half expected Old Man McDonald to pop out of nowhere and greet them. Her jaw dropped a bit and she turned sideways to look at her brother. From having slept with his face against the car seat, Glen had comical red lines running across the right side of his face. Adding to that, he a wore look of a person who'd just been informed that their favorite show was canceled.

The car pulled up into an unfamiliar driveway. Three identical clicks were heard as the car doors swung open.

"Did we do something to you?" Glen asked his mom pushing Spencer out onto the sidewalk climbing out of the backseat.

"Jackass." She mumbled over her shoulder, dusting her clothes off as she got up off the ground.

"Of course not honey." Paula didn't seem to understand her son's question, nor did she care to be honest.

"Then...why the hell did we move here?"

"Glen, watch your mouth." Arthur warned joining his wife at her side. "How about you make yourself useful and help me carry the things inside?"

"Whatever."

Spencer, leaning against the side of the car, pushed off of it with her foot and made her way to the trunk of the mini van where her family stood. Having a habit of walking with her eyes downcast, something disturbing caught her attention. Tilting her head a bit, she looked down at the metallic brown substance her father seemed to be standing on.

"Um," Spencer walked around her dad and stopped at Glen's side pointing at the ground as she spoke. "Should we be worried that there's a blood stain on the sidewalk...in front of our house?"

The three remaining Carlins glanced down to where Spencer was pointing. Glen made a disgruntled noise sounding something close to 'ugh'; Paula tried to not look as repulsed as she truly felt for the sake of her kids; Arthur, having been standing on it, lifted his foot from the ground and took a few steps away from the stained spot. Furrowing his brows, he noticed that some blood had latched onto the sole of his shoe.

"Okay." Glen clapped his hands together. "That's officially disturbing."

"Mom?" Spencer addressed her mom hoping that she'd suggest they hop back in the car and floor it back to Kentucky.

"Oh for the love of God, just pretend it's jell-o or something." She said dismissing both her kids complaints and busily began unpacking things from the car.

"That could work, except that jell-o doesn't come pouring out of your body when you get shot."

"Enough!" Paula turned back to her kids with an irritated look on her face. "Grab something and take it inside the house. _Now_."

Rolling their eyes, Glen and Spencer each gathered their individual things and began to make their way up the drive way. Not having paid enough attention to fully look at the place they were supposed to call their new home, both teens almost dropped their belongings on the ground when they finally took notice of the house before them.

It appeared to be old, creepy, and picture perfect--that is if the picture belonged to a horror film. Looking through the windows, it seemed pretty dark on the inside. Actually, Spencer saw small nail markings on the wood surrounding every window making her believe that they had been previously boarded up. The attic window was even encased by bars for Christ's sake.

"I'll ignore the blood stain, but it doesn't bother anyone else that our house looks like the one from the _Texas Chainsaw Massacre_?"

"Spencer, please." Paula demanded in a harsh tone finally fed up. She walked forward briskly passing both her currently immobilized children.

"What?"

---------------

"Dani. Dani stop."

"Why?" Dani spoke into her girlfriend's mouth not bothering to break their kiss.

"Because." Sasha--Dani's favorite person number four--managed to say, voice faltering severely, as Dani began to make her way down her neck.

"Yeah. _That _sounds convincing."

She laughed when she heard the other girl moaning but groaned in an exaggerated manner as she felt Sasha place both her hands against her shoulders to shove her off. Rolling over to lay next to her, she heard her mumble "pee break" before rushing out of the room.

Dani rolled her eyes but decided to restrain herself at least this once before the small blond got frustrated with her. She barely just laid back intertwining her hands behind her head when her phone went off. Instantly recognizing the ring tone--_Janie's Got a Gun_--she furrowed her brow and reached over to grab her cell from the nightstand.

"Yeah?"

"Whurrrt hell are you?" Slurred a rough, drunken voice from the other end. "You get yerr ass home now!"

Not bothering to deal with her father's inebriated state, she clicked on him and immediately dialed Buffy's cell. Nervously bouncing her leg up and down while waiting for someone to answer, she began to pray that Stacy wasn't at home.

While Buffy wasn't her first choice to be Stacy's one and only, she had to admit the girl definitely knew how to take care of her kid sister. This earned major tolerance points with her.

"Dani?"

"Hey, Vampira," There was always time for a quick jab. "Is Stacy with you?"

"Yeah. We're at the movies." She heard Stacy asking who it was and her heart fell a little. "Something wrong?"

"You think she could sleep over your house tonight?" Buffy needed no explanation. Anytime Dani would call to ask if Stacy could sleep over was because if she went home, Buffy might never see her again.

"Yeah. Of course. No prob."

"Thanks."

She snapped her phone shut and launched it across the room to land on the carpet. Running her hand through her hair, she looked up to see Sasha leaning against the door frame, her honey brown eyes shone bright with worry. The girl was definitely a sight for sore eyes; blonde hair, beautiful brown eyes, and a perfect body. Now _that_ was a goddess. Dani couldn't help but smile.

"Come 'ere." Sasha waltzed over to where Dani sat on the edge of the bed and put her legs on either side of her waist straddling her.

"Your dad?" She had no clue why she even bothered to ask. She already knew the answer.

"Satan."

She hated being associated with that man. Running her fingers through Sasha's hair, she mulled over what she wanted to ask. She decided to procrastinate a little while longer. Bringing her head to rest on the girl's shoulder, she began whispering into her ear. "I have a secret to tell you."

"Mmm, go ahead."

"So, there's this girl that's been on my mind for the past couple of months now and I'm going out of mind not knowing what to do about it."

"Really? And what's so special about this _girl_ you're talking about that has you going out of your mind." Sasha smiled playing along, running her slender fingers through Dani's hair.

"Well, she's beautiful for one. Two she puts up with all my crap." Dani reached down and laced her fingers with Sasha's free hand. "But, most importantly, she makes me forget about everything. Makes me feel as if I'm her only one, and makes me feel as if I'm worth her time. Even though I know I'm not." She took a deep breath. "Most, most, most importantly though--"

"Ooh, that sounds important..."

"I'm crazy in love with her and it's killing me having to wonder if she feels the same or not."

Sasha's gaze wandered from their locked hands up to gorgeous gray eyes. "And do you think she does?"

"I don't know. Do You?" Dani was looking straight into to her eyes now, heart beating outside of her chest. Sasha leaned in barely grazing her lips on Dani's cheek. When she pulled back, the most serene smile played on her lips.

"She does." Lips met lips in a sweet kiss that, although it only lasted a few seconds, felt like an eternity.

They pulled apart, Dani deciding that she'd procrastinated long enough. "Um...could I stay over tonight? I mean, I could sleep in my car if it's a problem but--"

"Shh. Don't be stupid. You don't even have to ask." Sad but true. Dani knew that Sasha's parents were fully aware of her situation and, despite knowing about the girls' relationship, they would rather have her sleep in the same bed with Sasha than beat down in her own house.

She remembered one time back in her freshman year when she showed up on their doorstep with a broken rib spouting blood all over the place. For Stacy's sake of not having to see her father behind bars, she begged them to not call the cops.

She leaned down pressing her forehead against the blonde's. She must have done something right in her life to deserve her. Sasha leaned down digging her knees hard against the bed and began to kiss up Dani's neck, hoping this would scare away all the things that tormented the girl's life on a daily basis.

It kind of worked. Dani turned her head and connected her lips with the older girl, deepening the kiss by slipping her tongue past perfect lips.

"Want to..." _Kiss_. "...help me..." _Kiss_. "...forget?" Her hands tugged at the girl's shirt hoping she'd get the hint.

Smiling, Sasha replied in a heartbeat. "Always." She pulled back, her fingertips rushing down to the hem of her shirt. Slowly, almost teasingly, she pulled the soft fabric over her head and threw it on her mattress. Sasha began to lean back obviously hinting she wanted it on the floor. According to her beds made too much noise. She pulled on Dani's collar to bring her along, but Dani pulled away.

"But that burns my knees!" Sasha giggled into her girlfriend's mouth before carrying on with their heated make out session.

"I love you Sloan."

Dani wasted no time replying.

"Love you too Gerret." She let Sasha pull her down on top of her as they both fell onto the carpeted floor underneath. While one hand roamed golden locks, the other began to slide up Sasha's skirt. Opening her eyes and looking up towards the ceiling Dani thanked the man upstairs.

_Thank you God for mini-skirts_.

---------------

Not being able to stand another second inside the _House on Haunted Hill_, Spencer found herself lying down on her mini-van's roof. One arm behind her head, eyes fixed on the stars above. You could actually see the majority of them as the only ambient light that could be found was from the only light post she could see across the street.

All she kept thinking about was how bad her senior year would suck. Back home in Kentucky, people would either completely ignore her or accept her as a joke only to purposely whisper behind her back where she could hear them loud and clear. Apparently her pain and embarrassment was amusing to the students of Daniel Boone High School.

She wished upon the stars above her that the kids at her new high school would be a little more accepting of her.

Glen, no surprise, would have absolutely no difficulties fitting in. He'd already accepted the fact that this move was convenient for the whole family as well as for him. He could start fresh. Show up the rest of the football players and of course there was "a brand new set of 'honeys' for him to 'mac' on".

She could see it now. Glen surrounded by a gaggle of girls and Spencer off to a corner alienated like always. A laugh from behind her brought her out of her reverie.

"What are you doing out here?"

Spencer sat up and turned her body to see Glen walking down the drive way, hands stuffed inside his jeans' pockets.

"Thinking."

The car shook as Glen hopped atop the hood, making his way onto the van's roof to join Spencer. As if reading her mind he quickly added, "If you're so worried about fitting in, why don't you just join the girl's soccer team? You're totally awesome."

Spencer shook her head as she remembered her freshman year. "Uh no thanks. Remember ninth grade? How I made it onto the soccer team? How it was only so Jenna and her friends could beat up on me easier? I think I'll pass."

"You know what? You gotta learn how to let go."

Glen brought his gaze down from the stars to look at his sister. "Not everyone's out to hurt you."

"Sure as hell seems like it..."

"Whatever." Almost giving up on his sister he perked up as a though hit him. "Hey, you might meet some cute girl on there if you join."

Spencer tried to fight it but a smile sneaked up on her face. "Glen, I'm not you. I can't just be bribed with a piece of ass."

"Ah, you say that now but wait 'till you see some cute honey shaking her thang in front of your face." He smiled hearing his sister howl with laughter at his words.

"Your such an idiot."

"While we're on that topic," Spencer stared at Glen warily, noticing his tone had turned solemn all of a sudden. "When are you planning on coming out to the 'rents?"

"Well..." Spencer looked up at nothing in particular as she pretended to think about it. "I was thinking about...never?"

"Spencer."

"Okay, okay. I don't know."

She lay back down not really wanting to talk about this at all. It had been nerve wrecking enough when she came out to Glen. She feared she might die on the spot if she attempted to come out to her parents.

"I was gonna tell dad but, I don't know, he's been acting real strange lately. As for mom? Fuck. No."

Glen narrowed his eyes as he lay back against the cool white metal. "You've noticed that too?"

Spencer had momentarily drifted away and was confused at Glen's question. "Noticed what?"

Looking to his right, eyes still narrowed he said, "Dad's attitude. You've noticed that too?" Sitting up, again, she looked down at Glen.

"Well, yeah. But I think it's just because he didn't really want to leave Kentucky." Glen shook his head up at his sister's form.

"I think his attitude has more to do with the reason behind the move."

She felt like an idiot. Either she was really lost or Glen was making no sense. She chose the latter. "What?" Sitting up himself, he began to spill everything he could recollect from what he'd seen and heard.

"Do you remember the day before mom said we were moving, how when we came home from school they were arguing about some woman named Brooke something or other?"

Searching her mind hard she found what she was looking for. "Yeah. So?"

Glen pulled his knees up to his chest and Spencer noticed his face turned grave in a matter of seconds. "Glen?"

"Look. Earlier that day, Elliott and I skipped school and passed by dad's job. He said he saw dad looking pretty cozy with some chic." He paused trying to remember everything in order. "So I looked and saw dad and some woman standing really close. Way too close for it to be casual. And then I saw mom running out of nowhere screaming her ass of at them."

A small Garfield looking cat ran out of the neighbor's backyard and slammed into their trash bin causing the two Carlins to jump. "Anyway, I couldn't really hear what they were saying. Only bits and pieces. But I did hear dad say that he couldn't do this anymore. Then mom said that if he did it, he'd regret it and she'd make his life a living hell. Then bam. The next day mom says we have to move."

Spencer had barely been paying attention to Glen. She'd been lazily following the cat that previously scared them with her blue eyes. Tired and hungry, she frowned not being able to come to any conclusions.

"So?" His eyes widened in Spencer's direction.

"You know for a nerd you sure are stupid." Spencer let out a frustrated sigh.

"Look, I don't know maybe I'm really tired but I just don't really get how all of that has anything to do with us moving."

"Okay, just a week before that, mom wouldn't stop yapping about a house she saw for sale that she thought we should move into. Then this woman shows up, they fight, and then just like that the next day mom says we _have_ to move."

"So...what the hell are you saying, that dad's having an affair?" Spencer hated her brother right now for making her worry over something that wasn't true. That could _not_ be true. Although, now that she thought about it, every time they complained to their mom about why it was they had to move, she would either change the subject or flat out ignore them.

As for their dad, he always answered with the same thing. "Just ask your mother." A million different emotions and thoughts were running through her mind.

"I'm not saying he is, but that's what it's starting to seem like."

"And I'm starting to think you've been tackled one too many times."

Glen looked like he was about to say something but an incredibly loud cracking noise in the distance scared him out of it. Both Carlins--forgetting completely about their previous topic of choice and only thinking of the blood stain on the sidewalk--dashed to get back inside the house.

Apparently, they also seemed to forget they were about five feet in the air which resulted in them falling from the mini-van's roof, landing on the ground in a tangled heap, and then fumbling to get back on their wobbly legs. They ran in such a haste that they managed to trip over their own feet several times until they reached the front door.

For the first time since arriving there, Glen and Spencer were glad to be _inside_ the house. Neither one stopped running until they reached their individual rooms, slammed and locked the doors safely behind them. The more than hard to believe conversation about their father now entirely forgotten.


	4. Worlds collide

**Chapter IV  
Worlds Collide.**

It was the first day of school and the first day of what should have been the last at Oak Hill. However, Ashley Davies found herself entering her junior year for the second time. She sat in the driver's seat of her overly expensive Ferrari; a frown marking her features. The only flaw on her beautiful face.

Her knuckles had gone white from holding onto the steering wheel in a death grip. The engine had long ago been killed off. At first, her anger had began to surge through her veins from having to park in the regular student car lot across the street instead of in the 'Seniors Only' parking lot. A reminder that her sentence within the unwanted school walls had been extended from four years to five.

Then it happened.

The one person who had no difficulty stealing her heart. No difficulty managing to get _the_ Ashley Davies to say those three pesky little words. The _one_ person who had just as easily thrown her heart away with no signs of pain nor remorse was slammed dunked back into her life. Daine Bryant stood with her back against her own car in the 'Seniors' parking lot. Hands enclosed lazily around the waist of her current flavor of the week. Lips latched onto the unknown girl's neck like a leech.

"Bitch."

That word alone seemed to slip past Ashley's lips with no effort each and every single time she'd found herself thinking of her ex-girlfriend. It should be illegal for people like Daine Bryant to not wear warning signs around their necks or something.

That girl was hazardous. A true disgrace to all of the human race. At twenty years of age, she was re-entering her senior year for the _third_ time in a row; still showing no signs of wanting to graduate this time around either.

Last year was suppose to have been Ashley's year. She had been on top of the world until comet Daine hit her full force. It was incredible even now to imagine how everything that had gone wrong in her life the previous year was all due to one person.

She blamed her from everything to having gotten kicked off the soccer team--while being captain--to the accident which lead her to miss the last half of her junior year. The thing that caused her to fail. Ashley closed her eyes and shook her head rather vehemently attempting to clear her head of unwelcome memories.

Giving the steering wheel a final squeeze, she clambered out of her car and headed towards the school grounds only stopping once she reached the front steps. She glanced up with a disgusted face to read the banner hung above the front doors.

_**'Welcome Back Oak Hill High Seniors, Class of 2009!'**_

"Ugh, fuck me."

---------------

"I look. Like a freak."

Spencer sat in Glen's brand new car observing her face in one of the mirrors. To her misfortune, she'd run out of contacts forcing her to wear a replica of Drew Carey's thick rimmed glasses she'd owned since the seventh grade.

To add to her dorky guise, she'd developed a disgustingly huge rash on one side of her face. Glen had rubbed a cat on her. Apparently, he'd decided to disregard the fact that his sister was allergic to cats when they'd gone to visit their uncle Mark. His house was ridiculously littered with all sorts of them.

"Aw, come on Spence, no you don't."

He lied through his teeth. He began to run his hand through her blonde locks trying to think of ways to comb her hair so that it would cover her 'scary side'.

"Seriously, it's not that bad."

Grabbing her face and turning it to face his, he couldn't help but snort loudly as he looked dead on at Spencer. Wow. He didn't even believe his own lie.

"God, you freaking jerk!" Letting go of her face, Glen ducked to avoid a flying notebook aimed towards his head.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Biting down on his tongue to keep from laughing he was able to calm himself down enough to speak again. "It's just that…you sort of remind me of Kevin from the Backstreet Boys in that Halloween video."

"Screw you."

Ignoring his apologies and attempts to keep her inside of the car, Spencer got out through the passenger's side slamming the door behind her. An action she too quickly began to regret.

She was crashed into by an oncoming kid on his skateboard. Spencer only stumbled but managed to hold on to the car. The skateboarder wasn't as lucky. He'd been thrown from the board and onto his back on the hard gravel below.

"Oh my God. Are you okay?"

Trying to be nice to the poor kid, Spencer bent down reaching her hand out to help him back onto his feet. She saw his eyes widened as he took in the sight before his eyes.

Mainly the gigantic rash covering part of her face. He scrambled away from her with a yelp and, retrieving his board from under Glen's car, ran in the other direction. Spencer's face fell as she quickly lowered her head and made to get back inside the car.

"Hey, hey come on. That kid was being stupid. He so did that on purpose."

"Surprisingly, that doesn't seem to help."

Noticing her hand reaching for the door handle, he was quick to lock the doors. He walked around the front of the car to join her and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders.

"Besides. It's _high school_. Believe me when I say there are _a lot _of freaks here. I doubt everyone's going to notice just you."

"Yeah. Still not helping."

They began to trek slowly towards the tall three story building. It's walls seemed to have slowly began to deteriorate from pollution.

"Whatever. But hey you still look cuter than that girl with the beard we passed back there." He jerked his head over his shoulder. Spencer had to stop and face Glen with a look telling him he either needed to stop talking or take her back home.

"Still no?"

"No!" Spencer rolled her eyes and smirked as a question popped into mind. "God. What the hell is it that girls see in you?" Without hesitation, Glen proceeded to lift his red vintage tee revealing a very well built physique.

A group of girls happened to walk right past the two siblings and their eyes instantly began roaming over Glen's exposed body. He smiled goofily at them while signaling them to give him a call with one hand. Spencer could have sworn she felt herself swallow back a slight bit of vomit.

She scrunched her nose at him and smiled meanly.

"I swear part of me just went a little gayer."

Dropping his shirt back down, Glen gave his sister a playful shove in the direction of the stone steps ahead.

"Well here goes our first day at Oak Hill."

"Super." Spencer shot back dryly. Glen continued to smile as he tugged at his sister's hand to follow him up the stairs.

---------------

"Aw. I think you should give the locker a break. I mean, whatever it did to you I'm sure it could apologize?"

Ashley smiled against her will as she heard the soft mocking voice of none other than Lavinia Cristi. Her best friend and, finally, someone she didn't mind bumping into.

Ashley stopped beating her head against the navy blue piece of metal long enough to greet Lavinia with a warm embrace.

"Ugh, I've missed you so much." A nervous pause and, "How have you been?"

There it was. The thing she'd hoped wouldn't happen with Lavinia. That pitying tone her voice carried as she asked Ashley how she had been doing.

"Boo, you suck." She pulled out of the much needed hug and shoved the other brunette away from her.

"Well geez, sorry if I was worried about you."

"Doesn't mean you have to _sound_ sorry for me." Ashley turned leaning her back against the metal door. Concealed inside were all of her belongings that had remained there since the day she'd been rushed to the hospital. "How do you _think_ I've been? While you were off on vacation I was stuck staring at the same ugly ass walls for as long as I can remember."

She looked out of the corner of her eye at Lavinia and was filled with new found resentment as something came to her attention. "Not that you would know seeing as you didn't even bother to--"

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Do _not_ even start with that." Lavinia positioned herself face to face with Ashley. Her eyes flashing dangerously. "I went to visit you every. Single. Freaking day after school. It's not my fault you were in a coma and can't remember." Ashley crossed her arms and stuck her bottom lip out.

"Then how come I didn't see you when I woke up?"

"Maybe because you woke up in mid June and I left to Europe the last week of May." Lavinia seriously couldn't believe how Ashley could possibly think she hadn't gone to visit her. Hell she'd even told her parents she wasn't going on vacation until Ashley woke up.

Of course her tyrant parents pretty much dragged her by her ears kicking and screaming all the way to the airport.

"God, Ash. That hurts. I've always been there for you and you know that. Why would this have been any dif--"

"Wait. You went to Europe?" Ashley, all resentment put aside, asked excitedly hoping her friend would fill her in on all of her over the seas adventures. Lavinia, who according to Ashley suffered from ADD, went from offended to beaming faster than anything she'd ever seen in her life. She probably broke a world record. "Oh my God, I have so much to tell you..."

Lavinia began to recount everything from spending thousands on shopping to the countless girls and guys she had countless "sleepovers" with. She even went into colorful details about some Italian guy she met, Alessandro something or other, whom she'd hooked up with one night and then moved on to hook up with his sister the following morning.

This is what Ashley gathered: Lavinia had snuck out of the hotel, spent the night at the guy's house, woke up at the crack of dawn to sneak back into the hotel room, bumped into Alessandro's sister, and had somehow ended up eating _her_ atop the kitchen table until the sun came out.

Ashley was back into her pouting-pissed off mood. She would normally say something along the lines of 'atta girl' but the sex anecdote had done nothing more than remind her of everything she'd missed out on in the past eight months. Lavinia was too caught up in a whirlpool of memories to notice that the thundering cloud was back to hovering above Ashley's head.

"Cristi. Piece of advice, when you're friend just came out of involuntary confinement less than two weeks ago, please have the decency to keep that type of shit to yourself."

Lavinia's light eyes narrowed as she took a step closer to Ashley.

"You. Are so. Fucking. Difficult. You neurotic bitch."

Ashley didn't seemed phased just bothered by the last comment. "I think you mean bi-polar." This only added more fire to the flame. Lavinia looked like she was about one nerve away from pouncing on Ashley and slapping the crap out of her.

"Shut up, okay? Just shut up. Quit lamenting over all the crap that happened with that bitch. No. Even better. Stop bitching _me_ out when it was _me_ who warned you to stay the hell away from that girl! So, really, _I_ should be bitching _you_ out for not listening!"

Her voice cracked. Ashley was staring at the ground. Guilt definitely the one emotion she was feeling right now. She heard fading foot steps and looked up just in time to see Lavinia walking way.

"Wait, Lavinia!" Lavinia simply waved a dismissive hand over her shoulder. Ashley just stood there looking like a dejected puppy dog.

She'd been looking after her friend's retreating back when a shadow somewhere to her right blocked the sunlight. Looking up, she was met with living proof that the devil truly _does_ wear Prada. An award deserving smirk plastered on the seemingly angelic face of a tall brunette.

"Bryant."

This bit was said through gritted teeth. Daine towered over the younger girl standing. At that moment, a poor sophomore had come over to Ashley. A welcome back card in hand. With one swift movement, Daine shoved the poor girl down on her ass and out of her way.

"Hey, Davies. Miss me?"

---------------

By the last period of the day, Spencer had resolved to hiding her face behind one of the textbooks she'd received in an earlier class. First day of school and a rumor had begun circulating students' mouths about her. Granted it wasn't a good rumor, if such a thing even existed.

Rumor had it that Spencer Carlin, a.k.a the new girl, was suffering from a severe case of leprosy. Glen, however, was an instant hit around campus. He even had his own group of freshmen 'groupies' before lunch rolled around and Glen, being Glen, had even managed to use the rumor about his sister to his favor. Instead of correcting them, he'd put on a sad puppy dog face and would play along expressing his sadness to girls who were more than willing to comfort him over his sister's situation.

Spencer found herself sitting at the very last row inside of a cramped classroom. A Spanish book covering her entire face. A voice to her left made her cringe and sink low into her seat.

"Gross Madison. Don't sit there."

From the high pitched judgmental voice, Spencer decided that the voice belonged to a cheerleader. She stealthily glanced over the large book and confirmed her assumption.

"What? Why not?"

Not even bothering to spare her feelings, the girl sporting the cheerleader uniform answered in an obnoxiously loud voice.

"Uhh, duhh? That's the new girl you know the leopard?"

Had it not been her they were referring to, Spencer would have doubled over in laughter at the girl's stupidity.

Looking at the girl through amused eyes, the one known as Madison spoke up.

"Um, hun I think you mean _leper_."

A silky Latin accent coating her words. The other girl simply stared at Madison with a blank look on her face and quirked an eyebrow.

Madison shook her brown locks at the cheerleader's IQ--or lack there of--and seized her around her wrist.

"Nevermind. Let's just go sit somewhere else."

"Welcome back to those of you who have the honor of already knowing me and, to those who are new, my name is Mrs. Steen. I will be your journalism teacher for this following school year. Now, please shut up and settle down."

Spencer had never been happier to hear a teacher's voice. This small distraction seemed to have all the curious eyes focus off her and onto the slim middle-aged red-head at the front. Steen had been in the middle of handing out a stack of papers labeled _Rules of Journalism_ when the classroom door banged open.

Eyes darting to the right, Spencer spotted a beautiful brunette walking through the threshold; the girl looked prepared to use whoever chose to tick her off first as her personal chew toy. Immediately after her, followed a taller and almost as equally stunning modelesque girl. A sly grin tugging at her perfectly crafted lips.

From the sideways glare, Spencer was able to gather that unknown beauty number one's distress was being caused by unknown beauty number two.

"Ah. Davies. Bryant. First day back and I see you've already slipped back into old _habits_."

The double meaning was lost on Spencer but definitely not on the rest of Steen's pupils. Wolf-whistles and 'oooos' were heard all around.

"Well, I don't like to brag but you know me and my charm with the ladies."

Daine snaked her arm around Ashley who reacted by shoving her into a nearby desk. Spencer slammed her eyes back into the book before her as she saw Ashley making her way towards a seat in the back row.

"Oh, really? Well how 'bout you _charm_ your ass into your seat before you piss me off. Even more." Not once did Daine lose the wily smile nor the cocky attitude as she made her away, also, to a seat in the back row.

Spencer looked to her right and saw Ashley had occupied the seat next to hers. Looking ahead, Spencer saw Daine now occupied the seat directly in front of her own.

_Great, the two class acts are right next to me. Crap. _

She sank a even lower in her seat.

"What?"

Ashley exclaimed, annoyed at the girl who was staring at her as though she'd sprouted a third eye. It was that bimbo cheerleader, Wendy something or other. Wendy continued burning holes at Ashley with a _'come on, how could you not know?' _look. She jerked her head over in Spencer's direction and she seemed to get the hint.

Ashley gave her body a 180 and almost fell out of her seat as she noticed Spencer. She sank lower into her seat. Spencer was certain that about ninety percent of her body was now below the desk.

"It's that leopard girl."

To Spencer's horror, Daine's attention and curiosity seemed to ignite at Wendy's moronic comment. She too spun around in her seat.

"Wendy, why don't you go douche yourself and leave that girl alone?"

A ripple of laughter erupted from the backside of the classroom and suddenly, Ashley Davies was Spencer's favorite person.

"Yeah, and it's _leper_ not _leopard_ you tool." Spencer was beginning to feel grateful towards Daine until she saw four perfectly manicured nails grab hold of her book and slam it down on the desk. She made a displeased face.

"Well don't you look like road kill."

One small tear slipped agonizingly slow down Spencer's face. More out of anger than anything else.

_Glen, you are so dead._

"Aw, leppy don't cry." Spencer raised one small pale hand and whipped Daine clear across her face. Wrong decision.

Not one to be defied, specially not publicly, Daine launched her hand to return the favor. Before reaching it's destination though, a small tanned hand gripped her wrist stopping it mid-attack. "Fuck off Daine."

Spencer's wide eyes darted back and forth between the two older girls.

_And I though Jenna was bad._

Snatching her wrist back, Daine completely seemed to forget about beating on the irritated blond.

"Damn Ashley. Grow balls all of a sudden? No, wait. You borrowed the pair your brother wasn't using."

Malice. Everything that came out of Daine's voice seemed to be soaked in pure malice.

"Better watch your damn mouth with me Bryant. You're lucky my dad didn't lock you the hell up." For the first time since stepping inside the classroom, Daine's demeanor seemed to melt away. She locked her jaw and leaned her back against her desk, eyes glazed with, could it be, fear?

"Ladies! Either shut the hell up or get out!"

Again, Spencer was thankful for Steen's whiny voice echoing throughout the classroom. For the remainder of the period, Daine and Ashley seemed to have glued their eyes to the front of the room. Everyone else in the back rows seemed to have been enveloped by the disturbing tension brought on by both girls welcoming the silence with open arms. Either they did not want to break it or knew better not to.


	5. Stop Drop Roll

Sooo, here's the next update and to those of you who had already read the beginning of this story a while back, I promise, I promise a brand new update is coming soon. To those who are reading this chapter for the first time, enjoy (hopefully) :).

-----------------

**Chapter V  
Stop. Drop. Roll.**

Ashley made her way steadily towards her car across the street, books in one hand and keys jingling in the other. She side glanced to her left checking out the senior class' parking lot. For more reasons than just having to park across the street instead of two feet from the school, Ashley's grumpy mood returned and useless wishing that she could have a redo of last year began to flood her mind.

She'd only made it to the sidewalk when blonde hair caught her eye. Completely forgetting where she was heading, Ashley turned her body to get a full view of Spencer sitting lazily atop a black Toyota Camry in the seniors' lot.

She continued to stare looking the girl up and down. Sans the scary rash and the nerd specs she'd probably make for a very cute girl. Not that she wasn't, at least in Ashley's books, even with both defects. She saw Spencer shyly raise a hand to tuck a loose strand of hair behind one ear.

"Cute." The act alone made the girl seem adorable.

Feeling a pair of eyes watching her, Spencer slowly lifted her head to search for the intruding orbs. To her surprise–a pleasant one–she locked her widened eyes with dark crystals belonging to none other than her sixth period savior. Ashley Davies.

Ashley chuckled to herself at Spencer's expression and smiled softly waving a girly hand at the shocked blonde. Spencer furrowed her brow and turned her head to look over her shoulder. Not seeing anyone in particular, she snapped her eyes back towards Ashley and pointed a shaking finger at herself.

The brunette looked down at her shoes and giggled for a split second before nodding her head. Spencer couldn't help but give her a quaint smile accompanied by a mouthed hello. After all this was her _knight in shining armor_.

Ashley was about to redirect her current route and make her way over to the blonde, when out of nowhere Daine appeared right next to Spencer. Evil flashing across her gray eyes. She tightened her grip on her books preparing to head over to the soon-to-be war zone but stopped dead in her tracks as she spotted Daine's lap dogs tailing close behind.

Everything that had taken place in the previous months had given her enough confidence to stand up to people once and for all. Scratch that; only _certain_ people. People that she wasn't acquainted with--nor that she cared to be acquainted with--in any single way and the people that hurt her in such a way she couldn't even recognize who they really were anymore.

In other words, people like Wendy who fell under the first category and people like Daine who basically invited themselves into the second with a smile plastered on their face. However, in the case of Shane Tristen and Romy Acosta, she had no category for them and therefore, had absolutely no clue what to do or how to act with them.

Sure, any friend of Daine's should burn in hell right along with her but, those two hadn't ever done anything to directly harm Ashley. Hell they'd even visited her in the hospital.

Focusing back on Spencer, her heart failed as she saw the smile held in place for her slip from her face as she turned cautiously to come nose to nose with Daine and company.

---------------

"Hey blondie."

It came out as a whisper but danger was sprinkled all over her voice. Spencer shook the scared look from her face and clenched her jaw tightly.

"What do you want bit--"

She was cut off by the all too familiar manicured hand as it slammed into the side of her face shoving her roughly onto the ground. Her head hit the cold gravel first with a sickening thud closely followed by her back. The wind and all clear thought being knocked out of her.

"Daine. Fuck. Don't touch her you might catch something."

The one with blue eyes, Shane, mumbled causing some laughter.

"Fuck off Tristen."

Daine growled over her shoulder. The laughing ceased almost immediately.

Shaking her head to clear some of the pain, Spencer looked up to see the three girls smiling down at her.

"Fuck you." She dug her palms into the ground and began to push herself up only to receive two simultaneous blows to the head. She let out a pained scream.

She curled into a ball, hands clutching her head. She felt something dripping down onto one of her hands and was more than sure she was bleeding from her lip or nose. One of the two.

Laughter erupted once more from the two cronies standing behind Daine. From the angle she was in on the ground, she glimpsed at Ashley looking down at her pityingly from a few yards away. New found anger surged through her body for looking like a wimp.

"Wow. I guess you two do more then just kiss her ass, huh?" She kicked one of her feet forward coming in contact with the black haired girl's leg to Daine's left.

"You stupid bitch." She lunged forward but was met by Daine's elbow instead knocking her down and onto her back. Daine rose to her full height and turned to face her followers. "Daine, what the hell?"

"Why don't you two just run the fuck along and I'll meet you back at the car."

"Hell no Bryant. You're not the only one that gets to have--" Shane protested forgetting all about helping her fallen friend on the ground.

"I'm not asking you Tristen." Shane seemed to want to get a couple more cents into the argument. Sensing this, Daine took a step forward bringing her impossibly close to the shorter girl. "Now _get_." The girl backed down taking a deep breath and looked one last time over at Spencer before grabbing her friend by the wrist and storming off. Spencer rose to her feet staggering a bit as she tried to balance herself.

She had never enjoyed a beating as much as this one in her life. Making sure she was still in ear shot but far enough to not get another punch to the face, Spencer made a whipping noise at the two girls' retreating backs. Shane seemed to a halt momentarily but resumed to walk away after a few seconds.

"Shut the fuck up."

"Make me you piece of--"

Entirely bored with the blonde at this point, Daine whipped around back-handing Spencer across the face. Who the hell did this new chic think she was? Spencer fell back against the car but quickly collected herself and made a grab for Daine's collar only to have her wrists snatched back and slammed against the surface of the car door.

"Listen, Goldie Locks. I've had about enough outta your damn mouth for one day."

"Then why don't you screw off and go back to whatever pit of hell it is you crawled out of?"

Daine responded by pushing her body hard up against Spencer's and ramming her knee against her mid-section.

"What part of shut up do you not get? Look, I don't care who the hell you are or who you think you are. Personally I don't give a damn. But you touch me in front of anyone in this school ever again and I'll rearrange that pretty little face of yours in a matter of seconds. Understood?"

Releasing one of Spencer's wrists, Daine used her hand to clutch the girl's chin painfully rough and turned her head so that they now stood eye to eye. Not being one to want to give in to someone like Daine, Spencer simply stood there glaring the older girl down. Or at least attempting to.

"Come on. Be a good little bitch and say you do."

She loosened her grip up to let Spencer speak. She noticed the blonde's lips beginning to move and a false sense of accomplishment rose beneath her skin.

Daine realized seconds too late that Spencer wasn't opening her mouth to speak. Instead, she'd opened her mouth to spit the Everest of all loogies straight into one of Daine's cloudy gray eyes.

"Ughh!"

Spencer smirked as Daine backed away wiping her face with a repulsed look.

"Well, at least _that_ wasn't in front of anyone."

Her smile along with her fifteen seconds of triumph was stripped from her as she noticed Daine's face go from red to purple. Her breathing becoming erratic.

Daine brought a balled fist into the air and brought it down against Spencer's rash covered cheek. Not even given the chance to recover from the first blow, Spencer was brought down to the ground with Daine hovering over her.

Blow after blow hit her repeatedly not only on her face but now also on her abdomen. With a final punch to Spencer's gut, Daine reached down gripping the girl's freshly blood stained t-shirt and lifted her up to into a standing position. Their faces only centimeters apart.

Spencer would be lying through her teeth if she said that the following words that slipped through the older girl's lips didn't cause chills to go down her back.

"Don't. Don't piss me off blondie. You don't who the hell I am." Daine whispered in a low whisper. Her voice coming out scratchy. She opened her hands laying them flat against Spencer's shoulders and shoved her back down against the gravel.

Turning to leave, Daine had a final thought. Having noticed how Ashley and Spencer had been innocently engaging in a little eye-flirting earlier, she whipped around. Her eyes set in Ashley's direction.

"Davies! Thanks for distracting her. You're a doll."

She winked at her and laughed to herself as she began to walk away. Leaving in her wake a wide-eyed and totally confused Ashley accompanied by a very pissed off and hurt--not just physically either--Spencer.

Spencer sat up resting on her elbows and looked over at Ashley. Her face screwed up in anger at the brunette. She shook her head in disgust before jumping back onto her feet. She was ready to leave.

---------------

All Ashley could do was stand there in amazement at how Daine could still manage to make her life hell. The look on Spencer's face was anything but pretty and although she barely knew the girl–actually she didn't know her at all–she felt the need to explain herself to the beat down blonde.

She was halfway to the parking lot when someone else made her stop. A blonde guy resembling many of Spencer's features approached the war-zone Spencer had been seconds of escaping. From where she stood, Ashley was able to hear the guy fretting over the younger girl.

"Spencer! What the hell? You're bleeding."

"Glen, let's go." Ashley couldn't help but frown at hearing Spencer's voice crack. "Wait, hold on a sec. what happened to you? Are you okay?"

"What does it look like dumbass? Just drop it and let's go home okay?" With not even a final glare at Ashley, Spencer clambered into the backseat of the black Toyota dropping completely from view as she lay down across the seat.

Glen simply stood there mouth agape looking around as if the answer to his questions where hanging from invisible strings around him. He was brought out of his reverie by Spencer's fist slamming the back window urging Glen to get inside the car. He quickly abided to his sister's plea and hopped into the driver's seat putting the car in reverse.

"Ugh, fuck. Daine you bitch."

Ashley, defeated, turned back around with her head hung low to trek back to her car across the street. She couldn't believe what just happened. Her "moment" with Spencer kept playing back in her mind right up until Daine came out of nowhere. Always the master of perfect timing.

Ashley could swear that her ex had some sort of device secretly embedded in her brain that measured Ashley's happiness. If it got too high it commanded Daine to go and ruin Ashley's mood. Upon reaching her car, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

She looked up at the car window to see a pair of eyes identical to her own looking back at her. She couldn't help but roll her eyes and grunt in annoyance.

"Hello to you too."

"Devin, what do you want?"

She asked the young boy without even turning around. Trying to keep from dropping her books, talking to the kid, and still thinking about Daine's antics, Ashley fumbled with her keys to open the car door and dropped them to the ground.

"Well, a ride home would be nice."

It was pathetic how he sounded so hopeful and at the same time scared to voice that type of suggestion.

"Yes that _would_ be nice, but I have to tell you, I kind of don't feel like it today. Go ask Kyla."

Ashley didn't even bother to not sound irritated by him.

"Oh, come on Ash, don't be like that. Besides, Kyla already left."

"Oh, well, then I guess you're walking your ass home."

Ashley, finally succeeding in getting her car door to open, hopped aboard more than ready to head out.

"God, when did you turn into such a bitch?" Devin grabbed a hold of the door before it slammed on him.

For some unknown reason he'd received the sudden urge to just throw it all out there and try to understand what it was that had crawled up his sister's ass in the last couple of months. Ashley's eyes widened at her brother's stupidity.

She clenched her jaw and jumped out of the car pretty much getting ready to jump down the boy's throat.

"When? How the hell can you ask me that? Where the hell were you last year? I mean, I remember seeing you at the hospital so how can you possibly not know--"

Devin was fed up. He threw his back-pack down on the floor as he began to wave his arms around at his sister. "Ashley, shut up! Quit blaming all of this on the accident. Quit blaming this on Daine. It was as much your fault as it was hers. Alright? Everybody told you to stay the hell away from her but nooo, _we_ were all wrong and _you_ were right. Right? Grow up and deal with it 'cause moping around about it won't do you any good. And it sure as hell isn't a walk in the park having to put up with your emo ass for the rest of--"

Ashley's petite hand flew through the air making a very pronounced slapping sound against Devin's fair skin. Tears were on the brink of spilling from Ashley's dark eyes.

"Shut. The hell up. Don't you think I already know that?" She sounded weak. "I don't need for you to--"

"Fuck. Off. Ashley. You do need someone to remind you of all that. Maybe one of these days it'll finally sink in and you'll stop playing the victim. And you know what?" He bent down to rescue his bag from the dirt covered gravel. "I'll gladly walk my ass home for the rest of the year."

With that, Devin turned his back on his sister and walked off. Head held high. Ashley's, on the other hand, dropped down along with her eyes as one daring tear broke through and slid to the ground.

---------------

"So, uhh, what happened back there?"

Glen asked glancing at his rear-view mirror to look at Spencer. Instead of responding, Spencer raised a single finger--the one you put up when you don't give fuck--high enough for Glen to see. "Aw, come on Spence."

"Screw you Glen. It's all your fault anyway. You might as well have been the one that hit me."

Glen scrunched his face up forming the perfect what the fuck face.

"Whaaat? What are you talking about?"

In one swift motion, Spencer sat up and flipped her hair back revealing the angry rash. Glen glanced sideways and, spotting his sister's face, jumped a little making him almost swerve into the oncoming lane. "Asshole!"

Spencer smacked him upside the head.

"What? Come on, you can't be serious. They beat you up 'cause of that _thing_ on your face?"

"Sort of. Not really but sort of."

Glen simply shook his head and raised a hairy arm to ruffle his sister's hair.

"Whatever, kiddo. Anywho, moving on to the more important subject of the day."

Spencer arched an eyebrow.

"Which would be?"

"Uh, girls." He said it in such a manner that you would have expected a big fat 'duh' to boom from the sky. Spencer rolled her eyes and lay back down, flinching a slight bit as the pain was beginning to spread through her back.

"You're an idiot."

"No, no. You are. Anyway, did you meet any?"

Ashley's face came into her mind's eye. A different kind of pain spread but not in her back. More like somewhere behind her left ribcage.

"Bitches. Only bitches." Glen frowned but ignored her.

"Well that's just too bad for you 'cause there are some major babes out here."

Spencer let her eyelids drape her ocean blue eyes and drowned out the rest of her brother's mumbling. She couldn't wait to get back home. Yes. Home. Shocker.

---------------

"Where are we going now?"

"Spencer's."

Sasha stopped sipping on her bendy straw to look over at Dani.

"What?"

"Spen. Cer's." Dani broke it down slowly as if she were talking to an incapacitated person. Sasha gave her a pitying look before placing her hand on top of Dani's on the steering wheel.

"Aww. Babe. I know you miss her but she really is gone. If you're going through some withdrawal symptoms you should, like, write her a letter or--"

"No, you blonde. I know she moved, I'm not an idiot."

"Noo, _never_." Sasha smirked releasing Dani's hand and going back her bendy straw.

Dani snatched her hand back and held it in her lap while continuing to drive with one hand. "Shut up. It's not that. I mean you know my situation...I can't go back home the way things are and I sure as hell am not letting Stacey go back home." She swallowed the knot beginning to from in her throat. "God. I've just--I've just never seen him this bad. It's actually starting to scare me."

"Hun, I already told you. You can stay at my house and so can Stacey. There's more than enough room for both of you and besides my parents love you."

"No means no Gerret. Look, Spencer's family left the house, like, semi-furnished and Spencer left me a key under the mat in case, you know, I needed a place to crash. Besides, I don't like compromising your family--"

"But you wouldn't be--"

"No. Look. I already feel weird about being at your house almost everyday. Your parents are starting to feel like...parents. To _me_."

"Sooo? What's so bad about that?"

"That it already feels weird, well you know, doing stuff with you when they're like right next door--

"Well, we don't always have to do _stuff_--" Dani's eyes widened wider than saucers.

"Do not--Do not even joke about that. You know I love going boom-boom with you--"

_"Boom-boom?"_

"Yeah, you know. Like the song." She paused taking a deep breathe. "I just don't need to add to the mix that it's starting to make me feel a little dirty, and grossed out might I add, _everytime_ I'm with you." Sasha gave up trying to argue with her girlfriend and simply gave in to the laughter that had been threatening to burst from her lungs.

"You are so stupid."

Dani simply gave Sasha her biggest cheesy smile and continued to drive, running about three red lights in one straight.

"No, I'm not. It'd be great see 'cause we could have privacy at Spencer's and you could, like, "sleep over" whenever you want. It'd be like having our--" Dani caught herself and cleared her throat turning a cute shade of red. "--my, _my_ own place."

Sasha stopped playing with the straw in her mouth and turned to give Dani a knowing smile. Dani was looking everywhere but at the passenger's seat. The creeping blush becoming more and more visible with each passing second. Two traffic-lights later and Sasha was still smiling at her.

"What you queer? Stop looking at me." This caused Sasha to start giggling.

"I love you."

"I love me too." Dani smiled to herself as she received a small punch to her right arm. "Ow, what? I heart you too babe." She whispered these last five words. Scared that any loud noises would scare away the new wave of feelings she was starting to get for the girl sitting right next to her. Tearing her eyes away from the road ahead, she leaned over to give Sasha a quick peck on the cheek.

---------------

A tall handsome man stood in an almost empty room in a vacant house. He was hovering over a dresser right below a window that looked out into the streets of the quiet neighborhood. He held the picture of a family in one hand and a hand-gun in the other...

"Where the hell are you?"

He asked to no one in particular as he burnt holes into the only man in the picture. The man had blue eyes and dark wavy hair. He had one arm wrapped around a blonde woman with piercing ice-blue eyes. He was guessing this was his wife. The other arm was over a small blonde boy's shoulder who was stood side-by-side with a smaller blonde girl.

He raised his revolver at the picture and aimed it straight for the man's face. Birds in a nearby tree outside scattered in fright as the trigger was pulled launching a bullet to rip through the old picture. Only coming to a halt once it hit the dresser's wooden surface.

---------------

**Before I continue with brand new updates though I just want to know if you guys like this story so far so. So yes, no, maybe so? :)  
**


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